Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Sunday, May 19, 2013
2012 HONDA HYBRID AND ELECTRIC CARS
A new era of transportation is fast approaching. The evidence: almost every major car manufacturer has plans to develop hybrid and electric vehicles.
Honda (NYSE:HMC) is the latest to reveal its intention to introduce both a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and also electric vehicle into the U.S. market by 2012.
The specifications for Hondas future PHEV and electric car are not public, but they are expected to be comparable to the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i MiEV.
Honda has also announced it will release a next generation Honda Civic Hybrid. The updated Civic Hybrid will feature lithium-ion batteries which are lighter, smaller, and more powerful than nickel-metal hybride batteries used to power most hybrid models.
Interestingly, Hondas plans to develop next generation hybrid and electric vehicles comes just two months after the company said it did not have a lot of faith in the electric car market.
Perhaps the company has been converted by the recent moves made by the other major car manufacturers. These moves include Volkswagen making it known it will significantly increase its electric vehicle program, GM taking orders for its plug-in hybrid, the Chevy Volt; and Nissans plans to introduce its all-electric Leaf in December.
Read the full story at U.S. News Rankings and Reviews: Honda to Introduce Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Vehicle by 2012
The Most And Least Dependable Cars
Every year, J.D. Power releases its Vehicle Dependability Study, which measures how dependable a vehicle has been over the previous three years of ownership. It is a valuable study, some would say more important for your consideration than its better known Initial Quality Study, which measures quality issues and problems as reported by customers after just three months of ownership.
We have chosen to show you vehicles that are at the top of their categories based on Powers 2012 VDS, as well as what we think their counterparts are. Power does not tell is which vehicles score at the bottom of the heap in their category, but we have applied our expertise and weighed that against Consumer Reports and IIHS safety ratings to offer the worst choices in the category. Thats not to say that our picks are bad cars. In many cases, they are just less good than their rivals.
Its important to remember that the VDS champ is a car the car that was sold three years ago. In some case, these models have been substantially upgraded, and will have to be scored again. But in our experience, models that score tops in VDS rarely fall very far from the top even after a redesign unless the automaker really messes up. We are showing you the picture and information links of the 2013 models of all vehicles. But its also worth noting that the fact that these cars have been the most reliable over the last three years means that the 2008 versions make for excellent used car purchases.
We have chosen to show you vehicles that are at the top of their categories based on Powers 2012 VDS, as well as what we think their counterparts are. Power does not tell is which vehicles score at the bottom of the heap in their category, but we have applied our expertise and weighed that against Consumer Reports and IIHS safety ratings to offer the worst choices in the category. Thats not to say that our picks are bad cars. In many cases, they are just less good than their rivals.
Its important to remember that the VDS champ is a car the car that was sold three years ago. In some case, these models have been substantially upgraded, and will have to be scored again. But in our experience, models that score tops in VDS rarely fall very far from the top even after a redesign unless the automaker really messes up. We are showing you the picture and information links of the 2013 models of all vehicles. But its also worth noting that the fact that these cars have been the most reliable over the last three years means that the 2008 versions make for excellent used car purchases.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Ferrari will Release 6 new cars by 2013
Fiat has been busy outlining its future plans today, part of which was to outline what Ferrari is up to and what we can expect over the next three years from Maranello. None of it was unexpected, but good to get confirmation.
Biggest news for Ferrari aficionados is confirmation that the replacement for the Enzo – the Ferrari F70 – will launch in 2012. As we reported previously, the F70 seems likely to get a turbo-charged V8 – a return to the Ferrari F40 days – rather than a V12. Blame the climate. Or at least the climate change lobby.
Before the Enzo expect to see a soft-top 458 in 2011 – the Ferrari 458 Italia Spider – and also a replacement for the 612 Scaglietti. The general consensus is that the Scaglietti will stick with a V12, but we wouldn’t bet on it. V8 turbo seems far more likely to us. But it will also probably be Ferrari’s first hybrid car.
Joining the Enzo replacement in 2012 will be a replacement for the 599 GTB Fiorino which we would also expect to disappear down the forced induction route. Finally – but probably not until 2013 – we will get the hard-core 458 – the Ferrari 458 Scuderia – and a facelift and fettle for the California.
Good to see Ferrari still pushing forward despite the doom and gloom of the economy and the climate change lobby, but we expect the next three years to see the end of a V12 in a Ferrari.
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Biggest news for Ferrari aficionados is confirmation that the replacement for the Enzo – the Ferrari F70 – will launch in 2012. As we reported previously, the F70 seems likely to get a turbo-charged V8 – a return to the Ferrari F40 days – rather than a V12. Blame the climate. Or at least the climate change lobby.
Before the Enzo expect to see a soft-top 458 in 2011 – the Ferrari 458 Italia Spider – and also a replacement for the 612 Scaglietti. The general consensus is that the Scaglietti will stick with a V12, but we wouldn’t bet on it. V8 turbo seems far more likely to us. But it will also probably be Ferrari’s first hybrid car.
Joining the Enzo replacement in 2012 will be a replacement for the 599 GTB Fiorino which we would also expect to disappear down the forced induction route. Finally – but probably not until 2013 – we will get the hard-core 458 – the Ferrari 458 Scuderia – and a facelift and fettle for the California.
Good to see Ferrari still pushing forward despite the doom and gloom of the economy and the climate change lobby, but we expect the next three years to see the end of a V12 in a Ferrari.
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